Trust only movement. Life happens at the level of events, not of words. Trust movement.

&mdash Alfred Adler (1870-1937)

Wednesday, May 04, 2005

Because we have a right to know, that's why.

Two related stories:

1) The Italian and American governments have completed their joint investigation into the killing of Italian security agent Nicola Calipari by U.S. troops. Their conclusions differ somewhat (to put it mildly) and, in the language of international diplomacy, the two nations have "agreed to disagree." CBC's coverage of the story may be found here.

More to the point, an uncensored version of the joint report on the shooting was "accidentally" leaked to the internet (a hundred karmic blessings on the anonymous whistleblower!). You may find the complete document with the classified information completely 'de-bowdlerized' and legible right here. Get it while it's hot!

2) The following is taken directly from this article in today's Globe & Mail:Previous government releases of evidence in the Arar inquiry, including a CD-ROM last week that contained about 800 pages of information, have been heavily censored.

Yesterday, human-rights advocates at the inquiry released two versions of the same Foreign Affairs e-mail from Oct. 23, 2002 -- a complete copy obtained under access to information, and another "redacted" by the government.

The complete version reads: "When asked if he wished the Embassy to provide him with anything he might need he answered that his needs were all taken care of by his Syrian hosts (his answer was dictated to him in Arab by the Syrians.)"

In the government-released version, the bracketed clause is blacked out.